Environmental concerns dictate that oil spillage at sea be minimized if not totally eliminated. But shipping is getting older and because of high cost is not being rapidly replaced. Modification of existing shipping hulls to prevent spillage is being discussed but no alternative seems perfect. Minimizing damage from oil spills involves both prevention of spills and containment in the event of a spill. To minimize the likelihood of spills, the present invention motors hull stress conditions so that undue stresses can be detected and histories of stress exposure recorded against the chance of long term hull failure. In addition, in the present invention, the location of a rupture can be readily and quickly ascertained by detecting capacitances of the affected elements. Having determined the locus of the leakage, the affected hull chambers can be pumped down, vacuum can be applied, and containment booms can be deployed accurately.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,480,480 to Scott, a complex system for integrating energy frequency data from a series of hull points is disclosed. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,596,269 to Laska, specially arranged conductors are placed on a ship hull for the purpose of detecting and monitoring structural failure by change in resistance. The Scott system appears to respond only to failures and no capacitance feature is provided, so that the location as opposed to the existence of a rupture could be determined.